If you or someone you know are in the market to buy and are facing any of the following:
- Had a short sale or foreclosure in the past 24 months lowering your credit score - now renting
- Credit score not high enough for other reasons - but have good renting history
Please read this article from the New York Times and feel free to pass it on to anyone you know that can benefit
from the information.
Borrowers who have a history of paying rent on time may see a boost to their credit score. Experian, a leading
credit report company, added a section to its credit reports last year that reflected on-time rent payments, which
helped give a boost in the credit scores to some on-time rent payers. Now the two other major credit reporting
companies are following suit. CoreLogic and FICO recently announced they are also adding a score that reflects
payment histories from landlords, The New York Times reports. “Evidence of positive rental payments could be a
plus for consumers,” Joanne Gaskin, FICO’s director of product management global scoring, told The New York
Times. Nearly half of high-risk consumers saw an increase of 100 points or more after their rental history was
added to their credit report, says Brannan Johnston, the managing director of Experian’s rent bureau. Consumers
with average or higher credit scores, on the other hand, did not see any major difference to their scores. For
former home owners who lost their homes to foreclosure, they may be able to rebuild their credit histories more
quickly now by showing they are “very responsible renters,” Tim Grace, senior vice president of CoreLogic, told
The New York Times. Source: The New York Times